Railway mail-dslivebing apparatus



O. M. GILBERTSONfl RAILWAY M'A'I'L DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 23, 1920.

Patented June 14, 1921.

am; V z/zazmz 3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

O M GILBERTSON RAILWAY MAIL DELIVERING APPARATUS.-

APPLICATION FILED APR.23. 1920.

Patented June 14, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHUT 2.

abhor/mg o o. M. GJLBERTSON. RAILWAY MAILDE LIVERING APPARATUS.

krrucmou men mma. I920. 1,381 ,414 Patented June 14, 1921.

3 .SHEETS'SHEET 3.

1 Am /ANA,

'Wmm w 4% zziari dow $.77M A yrzuwmm Mommas UNITED} STATES PATENT OFFICE. 1

0201 0 M. GILBERTSVON, on La cnossn, WISCONSIN.

RAILWAY MAIL-DELIVERING APPARATUS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, O'rro'M. GILBnR'rsoN, a citizen of the'United States, residing at La Crosse, in the county of La Crosse and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Mail-Delivering Apparatus; and I do dec'lare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it apperta'ins to make and use the same. Y

My invention has for its principal object to provide'a comparatively simple, yet a highly efiicient and reliable means for tie livering mail bags from moving trains, without the danger of injury either to the bag or its contents, and in carrying out this object, other aims are to provide novel means for holding the sack prior to its delivery, and to makenovel provision for delivering the sack properly, regardless of the direction in which the train is traveling. I

With the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel constructionv and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed, the descriptive matter being supplemented by the accompanying draw= ings forming a part of this application.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention "showing the same in readiness to deliver a sackof mail.

Fig.- 2 is a transverse section through one of the mail cars and the tracks of the receiving car, showing an elevation of the diderent parts carried by said car and tracks.

Fig. 3 1s a horlzontal sectlon on the plane of line 3 3 ofFig.2.

Fig. dis a vertical section on the plane of line 1-4 of Fig. 3.

Figs. 5 and-6 are detail vertical sections through the sliding arm and its guide, as

seen on the planes of lines 5-5 and 6-6 of ig. 2.

' ig. 7 is an end elevation of the car carried arm and the bag holding means thereon.

Fig. 8 is 'aview similar to Fig. 7 but illustrating the, reversible head of the holding means in section.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 23, 1920. Serial No. 376,116.

forms the gist of the present invention and the fixed or receiving unit F is protected by my pending U. S. application, Serial-No. 303536, filed June 12, 1919.

The unit F includes a mail bag receiving car 1 having wheels 2 traveling on suitable tracks 3, and a shock absorber 4 to gradually bring said car to a standstill after the mail has been deposited therein. The car 1 is open at itstop and at one end, while its opposite end is closed and is provided with a bumper 5 which is preferably hinged at 6 and is provided with a suitable shock absorbing spring (not shown). A sack strikes the bumper 5 when it is received in the car 1 and the shock is thus greatly absorbed, such shock however, serving to start the car 1 along the tracks 3, against the checking action of the shock absorber a.

The tracks 3 may well be located on a longitudinally extending horizontal frame 8, centrally pivoted for swinging horizontally to position the car 1 for receiving mail from trains approaching in either direction, Suitable supports 10 may be provided for the ends of the frame 8 and said ends are preferably equipped with rollers 11 to travel onto said supports when-the frame is swung to one position or the other. Suitable means 12 are provided for locking the frame 8 against movement when it is properly set.

The subject matter so far described in detail, forms no part of the present inven tion,.but it is protected by the U. S; application above referred to, such construction being -briefiy disclosed in the present case, only for the purpose of illustrating the true manner in which the present invention is adapted to operate.

The traveling unit T is illustrated most clearly in Figs. 2 to 10, said unit including a guide 21 hingedly mounted at 22 on one side of the mail car, for swinging against the side of the latter as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 3 or for disposition at right angles end resting on the roller 25, while said end 27 extends under the roller 25. The outer end of the arm 26 carries the mechanism for holding the mail sack and consequently there is a downward strain on the outer end of the bar and an upward strain on the inner end thereof, but these strains are re- 'ceived-by the rollers 25 and 25 and thus the bar may he slid in or out with ease. A handle or the like 28 may be provided for this purpose if desired.

The outer end oi arms 26 carries a reversible, horizontally swinging head 29 which might be connected thereto in any adequate manner, although intermeshing knuckles 30 and a pivot pin 31 are preferably employed for this purpose. The head 29 may be of any suitable shape, but, in most instances I prefer to construct the same in the form oi an inverted L with the knuckles 30 on the vertical arm thereof, while the horizontal arm 32 serves to support the sack 8.

Any suitable means may be employed to hold the head 29 in either one position or the other, according to the direction in which the train is traveling, but I prefer to provide the outer end oi arm 26" with a fixed disk 33 having openings 3% through which a pin 35 is insertible, said pin being slidably carried by the head 29, for instance, in a lug 36 at the lower end of said head.

By any suitable connection I attach the mail sack S to a ring 37 and pass such ring over the horizontal arm 32 of the head 29, and I employ a novel latch mechanism for holding the ring in place on the arm until the sack is deposited in the car and for then releasing said ring to permit the arm 32 to withdraw therefrom. In thepresent showing, I have illustrated a vertical lever 38 fulcrumed in a slot 39 inthe arm 32 and provided with a downturned end 4C0 to ex- 1 tend over the ring 37, said end being normally held in a socket 41 in the arm 32 by means of a coiled spring or the like 42which normally holds the lever 38in position to hold the ring 37 against removal. The lower end of lever 33 forms a trip to strike the upper end of the bumper 5 or a release plate 43 carried by the car 1 and it will be seen that this lever is in front of the sack Thus, by the time the lever is released by contact with the receiving car, the sack has been deposited in said car against the bumper 5, which starts the car along its tracks 3.

After its use, the slide bar 26 may be drawn into the car, and I may provide spring detentsl l and a lug e5, carried respectively by the guide 21 and bar 26, for yieldably holding said bar in either projected or retracted position The shape of the lug 45 and its manner of co-action with the detents .4:, is illustrated most clearly in Figs. 1 and5, said detents being adapted to snap into a central depression with which.

said lug is provided.

In operation, the sack S is hung by the ring 37 upon the head 29 and held by the le er 38, said head being swung to the proper position, according to the direction in which the train is traveling. The slide bar 26 is then projected, after first swinging the guide 21 outwardly from the wall of the car and anchoring it by means of the hook 23. In the meantime, the car 1 has been positioned at the ends of the tracks 3 to receive the sack and when said car is reached, said sack and the lever 38 strike the same at approximately the same time. The lever 38 is thus released to allow the head 29 to be withdrawn from the ring 37, leaving the sack or sac s of mail in the car 1. The shock of receiving the mail is decreased to a large extent bythe bunlper 5, but nevertheless the is caused to travel along the tracks 3. iowever, the shock absorber l slowly brings -.e car to a standstill so that the sacks may be removed, after which said car is returned to the receiving end of the tracks. After delivery of the mail, the arm 26 is of course drawn into the train 2- ad its guide 21 is then folded against the wall of the coach as inclicated in dotted lines in 3. By swinging the frame 3 and the head 29 to one position or the other, the device may be used regardless of the direction in which the train is traveling.

l rom the toregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be pr. ..tively simple nature, it will be highly et ient and in every way desirable, and sin ,e probably the best results may be obta ned lrom the details disclosed, such detai may well be followed. 1 wish it underhowever that within the scope of the 'illl'tlilfi as claimed, considerable latitude 7 allowed for making numerous minor changes.

.l claim:

1. A delivery unit for railway mail appar *us compri ing an arm carried by a railway car and. having a horizontal rearward extension pivoted on its outer end, means en said etrr'ension for normally holding a ture for registration with the openings of said disk, the two sets of knuckles being pivoted together, a locking pin for insertion through apertures of said head and disk to hold said head in either of two reversed positions, and means on said head for suspending the mail therefrom until its destination is reached.

3. A delivery unit for railway mail apparatus comprising an arm extending laterally from the railway car, said arm having hinge knuckles and an apertured disk at its outer end, a horizontally elongated head having hingeknuckles meshing with the aforesaid knuckles and provided with an aperture for registration with the openings of saiddisk, the two sets of knuckles being pivoted together, a locking pin for insertion through the apertures of said head and disk to hold said head in either of two reversed positions, a ringadapted for passage over said head to suspend a mail bag therefrom,a one-piece lever fulcrumed on said head and having an arched upper end normally extending over said ring to hold the same against removal, the lower end of said lever being adapted to strike a relatively fixed member to release said ring when the destination of the mail sack is reached. '4. A delivery unit for railway mail apparatus comprising a guide carried by a railway car, a slide bar operable in said guide and adapted for projection beyond the side of the car, the outer end of said bar being offset upwardly from the bottom of the guide, while the inner end of said bar is offset downwardly from the top of said guide, a roller carried by the guide upon which the outer end of said slide bar rests, a second roller carried by said guide against which the upper edge of said inner end of the slide bar bears, and means 011 the outer end of said slide bar for holding a mail sack until its destination is reached.

5'. The combination with a railway car having an opening in one side, of a horizontal guiding frame within said car and pivoted at one end thereto on a vertical axis in position to be swung against the inner side 1 of the car or at right angles to said side, an

arm slidably mounted in said guiding frame and adapted for projection through the aforesaid opening when said frame is moved into right angular relation with the side of the car, mail bag holding means on the outer end of said arm, and means for holding said frame in operative position.

In testimony whereofI have hereunto set my hand.

OTTO M. GILBERTSON. 

